- Children in Gaza mimic funerals, reflecting their exposure to death and loss daily
- Gaza faces severe humanitarian challenges, including trauma and disrupted education
- Malnutrition poses a critical risk to children's health and long-term wellbeing in Gaza
A video shared by a Palestinian content creator shows a scene that feels impossible to watch without pause. In a displacement camp in Gaza, five children begin a funeral procession. There are no prayers, no elders leading the way. Instead, small hands grip a makeshift stretcher. On it lies a doll.
The children walk slowly, carefully lifting the stretcher over their heads and shoulders. This is not a pretend play born out of imagination but something they are copying what they see around them - death, loss, and goodbyes. At an age meant for laughter and games, mourning has become part of their play.
Instead of toy cars or hide-and-seek, these children are acting out funerals because funerals have become part of their everyday lives. The doll stands in for people they have lost, scenes they have watched, and pain they are too young to understand but already know well.
Toll On Gaza's Children
Gaza is under a fragile ceasefire agreed last October, which followed two years of devastating conflict sparked by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
According to UNICEF, for children and families across the Gaza Strip, everyday life is shaped by severe and compounding harms, as the systems they rely on for survival have been decimated. Humanitarian needs remain staggering. Grave violations against children and protection risks remain widespread, while the extreme scale of trauma is driving urgent mental health needs.
Malnutrition remains one of the biggest threats to children's lives in Gaza. Many children face the risk of lifelong health problems because they do not have enough food or proper nutrition. At the same time, repeated attacks on schools, many of which are now shelters for displaced families, have disrupted learning across the region.
Scale Of Death In Gaza
The human cost of the war has been devastating. Over 75,000 people were killed in the first 16 months of the two-year war in Gaza, at least 25,000 more than the death count announced by local authorities at the time. These findings were published in the Lancet Global Health medical journal and reported by The Guardian in February.
Between October 7, 2023, and January 5, 2025, a total of 42,200 women, children and elderly people were killed. They made up 56% of all violent deaths in Gaza during that period.
In November 2025, a separate study by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research estimated that 78,318 people were killed in Gaza between October 7, 2023 and December 31, 2024. That research also found that life expectancy in Gaza fell by 44% in 2023 and by 47% in 2024 as a result of the war.
